The present invention relates to a baseball pitching machine, and in particular to a pitching machine comprising a speaker for giving a warning to a batter so that the batter can get ready before the pitching machine throws a ball.
A conventional baseball pitching machine generally includes a tube and a friction wheel coupled to the tube. When a baseball is put into the tube through an inlet opening and guided to the friction wheel. The friction wheel that rotates at a high speed engages and drives the ball through the tube with high speed to make a throw.
In the conventional baseball pitching machine, the distance between the inlet opening of the tube and the friction wheel is short and the ball is thrown out almost immediately after the ball is put into the machine, so that the batter has to react within a very short period of time. Nevertheless, this is not exactly the same situation that a batter faces the pitcher in a real baseball game. In a real game, the pitcher has to take certain actions before he or she throws the ball. Correspondingly, the batter has a period of time to prepare. In other words, the batter has enough time to expect when the ball is pitched and then to adjust his or her pose. Therefore, the operator who operates the pitching machine has to yell to notice the batter that the ball is dropped into the tube and this is a burden for the operator to yell hundreds of time. Besides, if an object other than a ball is dropped in the tube, the operator cannot pick it out and this could damage the machine and/or the batter.
The present invention provides a baseball pitching machine that has a cap for preventing objects from accidentally getting into the tube and the cap activates a speaker and/or a light signal to notice the batter that a ball is to be pitched.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a baseball pitching machine comprising a support portion on which a case is mounted for accommodating a friction wheel operatively coupled to a motor. A tube is mounted to the case and defines a ball passage in communication with the case. The tube comprises a straight shooting section and an angled feeding section having an inlet opening to which a cap is connected. The cap is normally closed to prevent foreign objects from entering the pitching machine. A detection member is mounted in the inlet opening of the feeding section and is actuateable by opening the cap to give off an audio warning via a speaker. The cap has stop plates for prevents the ball from directly traveling to the shooting section before the cap is closed.